


2 times reggie holds his boyfriends + 1 time (of many) they hold him

by blackandblue13



Series: some jatp one-shots bc i'm emo [6]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Cuddling, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Pre-Season/Series 01, bobby is there for approximately 34 seconds, flashbacks bc idk what a timeline is, protective reggie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26994973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackandblue13/pseuds/blackandblue13
Summary: Here’s the thing.Reggie loves being the little spoon. It’s his favorite thing in the world, after music, pizza, and most of all, his two boyfriends that hold him so near and dear to their hearts.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Luke Patterson/Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: some jatp one-shots bc i'm emo [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969249
Comments: 32
Kudos: 378





	2 times reggie holds his boyfriends + 1 time (of many) they hold him

**Author's Note:**

> this goes along with “two of us running out” so it would be a good idea to read that one as well (not to be like “self promo!” but self promo bc the fics are Connected) 
> 
> also i wrote 95% of this instead of getting out of bed for class oops

Here’s the thing. 

Reggie _loves_ being the little spoon. It’s his favorite thing in the world, after music, pizza, and most of all, his two boyfriends that hold him so near and dear to their hearts. He’ll fall asleep against Alex’s chest, doze off in Luke’s lap, or find himself nestled between the two when they all spend the night at the studio. 

But when either of them are hurting — whether it was because of something happening at school, or a full-fledged argument with parents — Reggie goes into protection mode. It’s like a switch gets flipped inside of him, and being the big spoon is all he’s ever known. 

He’s not a fighter. He’ll avoid conflict as much as possible. But maybe he gets a bit _too_ defensive when it comes to his loved ones. And maybe he has baseball bats stashed under his bed at home and behind the drum set at the garage. And he’ll admit, he’s had to throw a few punches when his dad has come home sober but furious. 

Okay, so maybe he’s a _little_ bit of a fighter — only when necessary. But his boyfriends don’t need to know that. 

But, back to cuddling? It’s about Reggie holding onto the things he loves. Keeping them close. Safe. 

Alex welcomes it when Reggie takes the lead, as he tends to be the little spoon least often of the three. Luke, on the other hand, is a bit more stubborn. He may be the shortest, but he acts as though he’s seven feet tall. It takes him a minute to adjust after Reggie or Alex wrap themselves around him, but the two of them know he loves it just as much as they do.

~ 

**December 1994.**

The night Luke ran away, Reggie wasn’t planning on being there. 

For some reason — he can’t recall what exactly — Reggie was considering _not_ staying over at the studio. He almost went back home, but he’s eternally glad that he didn’t. 

He was about to fold the sofa bed underneath the cushions when Luke stumbled into the studio. 

_Sobbing_ based on how red his eyes were. 

Reggie catches Luke before he can fall further into the void of his own mind. Reggie knows that’s where he’s heading, no matter how much Luke will try to deny it later. 

They stay on the couch for hours, Reggie cradling Luke in his arms. Luke stops crying after the first fifteen minutes, but he can’t bring himself to move. A haunting image compared to his usual, upbeat self constantly bouncing around — onstage, in school, when he sees a stranger walking their dog. 

But Reggie is more than willing to hold him for as long as he needs, even if it takes all the time in the world. 

When Luke carefully sits up, rubbing away eye crust and sleep, it takes a few seconds before he notices Reggie’s fingers are no longer running through his hair. They’ve moved to delicately trail over his back, soft enough that he wouldn’t have felt the initial change, in case more pressure would break him further. 

“How come you’re still up?” 

Reggie places a hand on his cheek. “Are you okay?” 

Luke shakes his head. 

“Come here,” Reggie says, coaxing Luke to lay on his chest again. 

As they doze off, Reggie’s gaze lingers on Luke, holding his face like it’s everything. Because it is. 

Well, one of two everythings, in Reggie’s case. 

~ 

**January 1995.**

The night Alex left home, Reggie was by his side. 

Falling asleep in his own bed never felt better than the few times Alex (or Luke, or both of them, for that matter) was with him. 

Alex whispers his name in the dark. Reggie loves the way Alex says it, like a solo from behind the drum set catching the entire audience off-guard, warm and gentle, calling attention for all the reasons opposite of his instrument of choice. 

But at 1am, when they’re trying to sleep? Really, Alex?

Reggie grumbles, half-awake. His arm pulls Alex closer by the waist, same with the leg he had thrown over, and his lips find the back of Alex’s neck, pressing kisses before curling into a smile. 

Alex repeats his name and Reggie hums, content. 

“I love you.” 

Reggie moves his arm from Alex’s waist to find his hand, and Alex holds their intertwined fingers to his chest. Somewhere near his heart?

 _What a sap_ , Reggie thinks.

“I love you, too, 'Lex." 

Reggie rarely calls him _Lex_. He confessed he loves saying _Alex_ too much to call him anything different. It only comes out when he’s too exhausted to think properly. Alex told him it felt intimate, because no one else used it. Not even Luke did, until he heard Reggie, and then there were two, and they kept it at that. It was theirs, not anyone else’s. 

Maybe Reggie isn’t as tired as he claims, and he knows exactly what he’s saying, because he knows it’ll make Alex happy. Alex's light chuckle confirms it. 

Reggie doesn’t fall asleep until he hears Alex’s breathing steady. Before the rest of the world crashes around them far too soon. 

~ 

Alex and Reggie ran away from two homes that night. Reggie would be able to return if he wanted, but it wasn’t the same case for Alex. 

Reggie refused to talk about himself — that night, and in general. His boyfriends were going through worse than him, so he didn’t complain about his own home life. They knew about the fighting. They knew it got bad. Neither of them knew _how_ bad until Alex was there for those few hours. 

(Reggie would later claim it was getting better, and they didn’t need to worry. They did anyway, especially when Reggie spent a whole month at the studio without returning home. On the one night he _did_ go, he came back within the hour, failing to cover a black eye, and he and Alex had to physically restrain Luke from confronting Reggie’s father. 

_“It was my fault,” Reggie insisted._

_“Absolutely not,” Alex shot back._

_“Yes, it was. I…” Reggie fell back against the couch and focused on the ceiling. “I forgot to hide the album.”_

_Luke’s breath hitched. “The one I gave you?”_

One of the few good things that came out of the winter of 1994 was the set of photo albums. They were fifty-page pocket-sized booklets, and Luke filled them with photos of himself and his boyfriends before gifting them at Christmas. Bobby got an album, too, but Luke put more… band-friendly photos in that one. 

Reggie's mom found it when she was going through his room. His dad took one look at it before going on a rampage, mixed with words and the first thing he picked up off the kitchen table. It started with both of them against him, then they quickly turned on each other. Another competition of who screwed him up more. 

He grabbed it before rushing out of the house while they were distracted. He didn’t forget to hide it. He thought it was lost. Turns out, just confiscated. As if that made it better.) 

He doesn’t know about his boyfriends' collective sigh that came when he passed out on Alex’s shoulder. He doesn’t know about Luke’s melodic laugh that rose through tears when Alex couldn’t stop going on about how _hot_ Reggie looked, baseball bat in one hand, an intriguing air of confidence in the other. 

_(“Was it because of the boxers?” Luke joked._

_Alex rolled his eyes. “Okay, maybe that was part of it, but you should’ve seen him…”)_

Reggie _does_ know that Alex stayed up the entire time he slept — on guard. The protector becoming the protected. And Luke would’ve been there, too, if he didn’t have to go to school and take that dang science test. 

_(“Which you aced, right?” Alex questioned in a hushed tone, Reggie on the verge of falling asleep on him again._

_Luke planted a kiss on Alex’s lips, then one on Reggie’s forehead. “Of course. Can’t disappoint my boys.”)_

He knows that Bobby went out to get pizza with Reggie and Alex’s favorite toppings as soon as he heard they were having a rough day. And Luke would demand that Alex pick the movie for their next date night (and he always chose “Dirty Dancing” for some reason? He said it was related to the choreographer), leaving Reggie in charge of snacks. And Bobby would restock the food in the garage when the other guys weren’t there, and Luke would insist on paying him back. And the list goes on… 

_(“Okay, it’s official,” Bobby announced after Reggie told them he punched Alex’s dad in a fit of rage (“And passion!” Luke cut in). He stood on top of the table to assert his dominance. “Reggie is the coolest member of Sunset Curve.”_

_“Guys,” Reggie protested, but quickly gave in with a laugh when Alex kissed his cheek._

_“Too late, Reg,” Luke said with a grin. “It’s the law now.”)_

But most importantly, Reggie knows his boyfriends, his band — his family — would go to the ends of the earth for him, just as he would for them. 

**Author's Note:**

> (kenny ortega was the choreographer for "dirty dancing")
> 
> (i really said "flashback within a flashback" huh gamers) 
> 
> i made the tiniest voltron reference if any of y’all caught that then i’m so sorry 
> 
> when madison reyes said that charlie gillespie has 5’4” energy.. she was Right (i looked up his height for this fic and he says he’s 5’7” but do i believe him? no) 
> 
> thank you for reading!!!
> 
> tumblr / blackandblue13 
> 
> ~ b


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